Tampa Bay Rays

The New York Yankees return to Tropicana Field in first place in the AL East with a record of 28-18 and they hold a 4 game lead over the Rays (24-22). They visited St. Petersburg on April 22nd through 24th and the Rays took 2 out of 3. In the first game of the series Matt Moore delivered 8 strong innings allowing only 1R/ER on 2 hits striking out 9 and walking 3. Ryan Roberts had 2 homers and Yunel Escobar added another as the Rays defeated C.C. Sabathia 5-1. In the second game David Price delivered his best performance of the season but the offense was unable to take advantage against Phil Hughes and the Yankees scored 2-runs in the 8th inning to take a 4-2 lead. Evan Longoria hit a home run off Mariano Rivera in the 9th to draw the Rays to within a run but the Rays were unable to come back and lost 4-3. The final game of the series matched Alex Cobb against Andy Pettitte and the game remained scoreless through 4 innings before the Rays added 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th and a single run in the bottom of the 6th. Alex Cobb absolutely dominated the Yankees going 8.1 shutout innings allowing 3 hits striking out 7 and walking 1 and the Rays won 3-0. The pitching matchups for the weekend are as follows: David Phelps (2-2, 3.83 ERA) vs Roberto Hernandez (2-4, 5.24 ERA) on Friday at 7:10 p.m., Matt Moore (8-0, 2.29 ERA) vs Vidal Nuno (1-1, 1.13 ERA) on Saturday at 4:10 p.m., and Alex Cobb (5-2, 2.73 ERA) vs C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.43 ERA) on Sunday at 1:40 pm.. Since the two teams last met Curtis Granderson has returned to the Yankees, Reid Brignac has been acquired, and David Adams and Austin Romine have joined the team from Triple A. The injuries keep coming as Kevin Youkils, Eduardo Nunez, Francisco Cervelli, Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte, and Ivan Nova have joined Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Michael Pineda on the disabled list. Teixeira and Youkilis each had 6 plate appearances in a simulated game on Wednesday afternoon and are are inching closer to beginning rehab assignments. Another player of interest who may be getting close to returning to action is Michael Pineda who may begin a rehab assignment after one more appearance in extended spring training. The Yankees are winning with their pitching. Despite being 4th in the AL in homers with 58 their offense has struggled averaging only 4.24 runs per game and a 93 wRC+ and a wOBA of .314. The inability to score runs has led to 24 of their 46 games being decided by 2 runs or less and they have gone 17-7 in those games. They are 8-4 in one run games which is 3rd in the majors behind Cleveland (11-3) and Texas (9-4). They won their first 19 games when scoring first before losing to the Orioles Tuesday evening. The table below shows the Yankees hitters performance in the month of May. Name PA AVG OBP SLG HR RBI SB wOBA wRC+ David Adams 27 0.308 0.333 0.615 2 3 0 0.405 154 Lyle Overbay 75 0.261 0.307 0.493 3 13 0 0.341 111 Vernon Wells 78 0.270 0.308 0.459 4 11 2 0.328 102 Curtis Granderson 28 0.269 0.321 0.423 1 1 1 0.326 101 Robinson Cano 84 0.238 0.274 0.500 6 16 1 0.322 98 Brett Gardner 77 0.257 0.325 0.371 0 4 7 0.308 88 Travis Hafner 52 0.200 0.308 0.356 2 7 1 0.299 82 Chris Stewart 40 0.235 0.282 0.412 2 4 1 0.296 81 Jayson Nix 65 0.226 0.338 0.283 0 4 2 0.281 70 Ichiro Suzuki 66 0.206 0.231 0.333 1 3 3 0.238 41 Chris Nelson 37 0.222 0.243 0.278 0 2 0 0.23 36 Austin Romine 29 0.143 0.143 0.214 0 2 0 0.153 -16 The Yankees bullpen includes: Mariano Rivera (17 saves), David Robertson, Boone Logan (LHP), Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, Preston Claiborne, and Dellin Betances. David Phelps Spent the month of April working out of the Yankees bullpen but injuries opened the door for him to join the rotation and he has taken advantage of it.

In big-league debut, Gausman shows he belongs View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Tampa Bay Rays News

Calculating the average cost of attending a sporting event for all 122 teams in the four major North American sports leagues (NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB) the Tampa Bay Rays ranked second overall, trailing just the Arizona Diamondbacks. [The 25 Cheapest Teams To Watch In Person] © The Professor for Rays Index, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

After the best start in the organization, Bowling Green has cooled off a bit as of late. Triple-A Durham Bulls (28-19) ***Featured game of the day*** With two outs in the ninth and a three run lead, a rain delay prematurely ended Durham's 8-5 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Three of the RailRider runs came in that ninth inning, but the tying run wasn't even at the plate when the game was called. The big story Thursday was Mike Montgomery's return to the Bulls after two appearances with Charlotte, and he was solid. He used 69 pitches (42 strikes) to work five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out two, and he was helped out by some early offense. Durham put up four runs in the first inning before Montgomery even took the mound, topped off by a two run home run by Shelley Duncan against his former organization. Three innings later, a big home run would finish another four run frame for Durham, this one being a three run blast by Wil Myers. It would be his only hit in five at-bats. Brandon Guyer and Vince Belnome each reached base three times. Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (22-24) Despite a first inning run, Montgomery was shut down by Jackson in a 3-1 loss. Each team scored a first inning run, first Jackson in the top half of the inning on a two out wild pitch by Matt Buschmann. The Biscuits would score theirs on a fielding error. Mariners prospect Brad Miller delivered the big blow of the game in the third inning. With a runner on third, his two run homer gave the Generals the 3-1 lead they would not relinquish. Buschmann ended up striking out nine in five innings, but he also allowed six hits and walked four batters. Only five Biscuits hitters would reach base, and all three hits of the game were singles. Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (20-26) After falling behind 8-6 in the 11th inning, Charlotte came back to beat Clearwater in a 9-8 thriller. With one out and up by two runs, the Threshers conceded the seventh run on a groundout but could not record the elusive 27th out. After he tied the game up with a single, Ryan Brett stole second base and came home on Jake Hager's walkoff hit. The late heroics bailed out an ineffective Ryan Carpenter who worked the first 6.1 innings. He struck out eight and only walked one, but he also allowed two solo home runs on his way to being charged with six runs. Carpenter has now allowed 13 runs (10 earned) in his last two starts. Fortunately for the Stone Crabs, they were just as productive against Clearwater starter Nick Hernandez, Angel's nephew. Four Stone Crabs reached base three times, led by the suddenly hot Alejandro Segovia who had three hits, including his seventh double of the year. Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (27-16) Brandon Henderson was roughed up in relief of Blake Snell in the resumption of Wednesday's game, resulting in a 4-3 loss for Bowling Green. Before Henderson even came out to pitch, he was given a 1-0 lead thanks to a walk parade grand marshaled by Miguel Sulbaran. He walked two and allowed a single to load the bases with two outs, and Joey Rickard picked up an easy RBI with the third walk of the inning. Great Lakes would have an interesting inning of their own in the third though, loading the bases with three infield singles before Tyler Ogle cleared them with a double. The Hot Rods would tie the game up, but the Loons scored the go-ahead run in the sixth when Bowling Green failed to turn a one-out double play as a runner came home to score. Tommy Coyle reached base twice and stole two bases, and Rickard walked three times. A first inning run did in Bowling Green in another one run loss, this time by a 1-0 score. The Hot Rods conceded that run on a groundout, likely expecting to score at some point. Dylan Floro was sharp nonetheless, finishing with one run allowed in six innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Only seven Hot Rods would reach base (including two more times by Coyle), and

COMMENTARY | It was late in the 2012 season when the Boston Red Sox dumped a boatload of salary and players on the newly minted Los Angeles Dodgers, unloading $262 million worth of liabilities to a team willing to take them just to acquire All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Tampa Bay Rays News

According to his public calendar, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn will throw out the first pitch during Friday night's Rays/Yankees game at The Trop. That will be the second time Buckhorn has received the honor in the last 24 months (St. Pete's Mayor Foster=0).

by Ray Kuhn Fantasy baseball success is all about maximizing value and timing. You want to grab players at the right point on their trajectory upward and then part ways when they begin to trend downward. Of course that is easier said than done. Every other owner in your league is also trying to do the same exact thing with a lot of the same players, making it that much more difficult. All that means is that you have to look that much harder to find value. In some cases it means keeping your eyes out for rising prospects and grabbing them perhaps a week or two on the early side. Then when you find success with your “flash in the pan” additions, making sure that you don’t get too greedy and try letting them over stay their welcome in your lineup. With that in mind, here are 3 players whose stock I think is rising this week and 3 whose stock I think is falling. 3 Rising: Jonathan Singleton, 1B, Houston Astros. If Singleton was not suspended for 50 games to start the season, he may have already reached the major leagues. The slugging first base prospect hit 21 home runs last season with a .284 average and 79 RBI at Double-A. He looked primed to land in Houston early in 2013, but the suspension (which is ending next week) set back his time table. For fantasy owners, the bright side to this is that the suspension caused Singleton to be lost the shuffle of top prospects poised to make an impact early in 2013. The Astros are obviously a team in flux and the point of this season is to get their prospects some playing time and experience. It seems that Singleton will be moving through the system quickly and he will be motivated to make up for lost time. It might be a few weeks, at a minimum, until you see some value from Singleton, but if you have the bench space he is certainly worth the addition. Kevin Gausman, SP, Baltimore Orioles. Ok, it is time. Gausman is here and I don’t think he will be going away anytime soon. The Orioles have had issues with their starting rotation that are both health and performance related. Gausman was the fourth overall pick just last season and he has done nothing but live up to his high expectations since. Now it is time to see how that talent will translate to the major leagues. He throws in the high 90s, but even more importantly he has only walked one batter per nine innings so far this season. That will be a better predictor of his future success than his velocity, and that is why the Orioles were comfortable calling him up. For the season Gausman has a 3.11 ERA while striking out 49 batters in 46.1 innings. He finished out his Double-A career (well at least for now) with a six inning outing that saw him strikeout 10 batters while allowing only one run on one walk and four hits. That outing likely had a lot to do with why the Orioles recalled him, and I don’t think they would have done so if they didn’t plan on keeping him in the rotation. Don’t wait for his first start to grab him. Jake Odorizzi, SP, Tampa Bay Rays. What a surprise, the Rays have a pretty good pitching prospect. Odorizzi came over this winter in the James Shields trade and made his debut with the Rays earlier this week. In five innings against the Blue Jays he struck out six batters while allowing three runs with five hits and one walk. Even better for his long term prospects is that his last three innings were scoreless after he settled down from a rough first start. Tampa has a need in the rotation even after David Price returns, so I would expect Odorizzi to stick. Even better for his short term prospects, manager Joe Maddon pushed Odorizzi back to Monday where he will face the Marlins as part of a two start week. Prior to being recalled, Odorizzi was having success at Triple-A with a 3.83 ERA and 47 strikeouts over 44.2 innings and a 4-0 record. It is looking like Odorizzi is next in a line of Tampa pitching prospects. 3 Down: James Loney, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays. Did anyone really think Loney was going to keep it up? It seems th

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi has only made three career starts at the Major League level, including one this year. For that reason and others, the Rays are smart to push back Odorizzi’s scheduled start against the New York Yankees on Sunday. The 23-year-old will now take the mound in the series opener against the Miami Marlins on Memorial Day instead. Odorizzi was originally set to start opposite New York’s ace C.C. Sabathia. However, considering the right-hander struggled a bit in his outing against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 20, Tampa Bay thought it would be wise to have him start against a lesser quality opponent. Since it is going to take quite a bit to hang with the American League East leaders, the Rays definitely made the right decision to start Alex Cobb instead in the series finale against the Yankees. “Everything speaks to [the move],” manager Joe Maddon said, according to RaysBaseball.com. “It’s not a slight to anybody. It’s probably the right thing to do. Anybody given the same circumstances or choice [would do the same thing].” Odorizzi allowed three earned runs on five hits in five innings against the Blue Jays on Monday. He also struck out six batters and walked one while pitching in place of starter David Price. The reigning Cy Young Award winner was put on the 15-day disabled list with a triceps strain. Odorizzi has potential to be a top-notch starter in the big leagues. However, shaking his confidence by placing him in a high-stress situation is certainly not ideal. The Rays have a great opportunity to close in on the Yankees at the top of the divisional standings, with the series finale possibly being a pivotal game. There is no reason to put a rookie in that type of situation, especially when there is a way around it. Cobb has been outstanding in nine starts this season, which means he is more suited to handle the pressure. The right-hander is 5-2 with a 2.73 earned run average and 54 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings this season.

After a disappointing series loss in Toronto, the Rays are coming home to host the Yankees, and Roberto Hernandez will get the start in game one tomorrow. I think that getting lost in his 5.24 ERA and the overall disappointing start to the season for Rays' pitching is the fact that Hernandez has been good. Like, not just "keeping a spot warm for Chris Archer, Alex Torres, or Jake Odorizzi good." More like "keeping Archer, Torres, and Odorizzi in Durham good." SIERA, my ERA estimator of choice, believes that out of starters to have pitched at least 40 innings, Roberto Hernandez has been the 21st best in the Major Leagues this year. Hernandez is striking out 21.2% of the batters he faces and walking 6.6%, while having over 50% of the balls put in play against him be ground balls. Yes, his HR/FB is a freakishly high 25%, which means every batter has hit against him with the power of Adam Dunn or Michael Morse, but that's unlikely to continue. The same skills that enable a pitcher to strike out a fifth of the batters he faces also enable him to post a reasonable HR/FB rate over the long run. Now, I've already talked about one of the ways Jim Hickey and the Rays staff have improved Roberto Hernandez—by throwing more of his excellent changeups—but there was something else new in his approach that I had missed until now. Against left-handed batters, Hernandez has been throwing a front-door sinker. This means that he aims his two-seam fastball at the batter's hip, and then lets it's excellent horizontal movement carry the pitch back over the plate or nearly so. He's gotten plenty of called strikes and plenty of whiffs with the pitch. It looks really effective, and I just assumed it's something he's always thrown. I was wrong. Here, from the Baseball Prospectus and Brooks Baseball player cards, is the location distribution of Roberto Hernandez's sinkers to lefties over his entire career: And here it is in 2013: Yes, Hernandez is always going to pound the down and outside corner of the zone, because that's how one gets ground balls, but he used to be a one trick pony against lefties. Now he's coming inside with the pitch as well. Over his whole career, he's thrown a sinker on the inner third or off the plate inside only 19.5% of the time. In 2013, 38.3% of the time. The change in approach has been borne out in the results. Over his career, Hernandez has only struck out 11.4% of the left-handed batters he's faced. In 2013, 20.2%. As I so often find myself doing, I can only tip my cap to Jim Hickey and whoever else works with the Rays pitching staff. They once again have taken a talented but flawed and predictable pitcher and have gotten him to play to his strengths while at the same time becoming less predictable. A side note about perception. When I started writing this article, I was certain that the entire Rays staff was throwing front-door sinkers more often this year. That's not true at all. Alex Cobb and Jeremy Hellickson are actually throwing that pitch less often. All that had happened is I had become more aware of the pitch by watching Hernandez, and had started taking greater note of it whenever anyone threw one. Another reminder of why it's a good idea to check the data whenever you think you see a pattern.

Tampa Rays fans can head to Tampa Lee Roy Selmon’s locations and get on board a chauffeured luxury bus to Tropicana Field. It’s only $9.95 roundtrip!!! The hated Yankees are in town Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is a stunning deal! Why waste money on parking and gas, especially when you can ride in style with an adult beverage in hand on a Paradise Worldwide Transportation luxury bus? Click on through below to learn more about the best deal in Tampa Bay sports, the No Excuses Tour to Tropicana Field. Find out how nearly 1,000 fans have enjoyed Rays games since 2011. © The Professor for Rays Index, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: